Technical Note_Civic Protests Barometer_2016 (2).pdf

This research study presents information on the frequency and the nature of civic (service delivery protests) throughout South Africa. The study as a whole draws on different methods for three periods. The first period dates from the inception of the study in 2007 until the end of 2011. A new method, currently still being used, was adopted for the period after 2011. Once gain the method was changed in 2016. The initial component derived protest records from the media reports of community protests contained in the Community Protest Monitor in the South African Local Government Briefings Report1 and Lexis Nexis online database. Data was collected monthly from 2007 until August 2012 and displayed in a series of barometers that analyze overarching trends and patterns in protest activity over the period. After 2011 the method changed to rely on on-line news aggregators and social media reports rather than Lexis-Nexis and the Local Government Briefings.